The Periodic Table of Wine
Method
Pét-Nat
The rounded, apple-fresh Champagne grape. Early-maturing, brioche and red fruit. Krug champion. Adds approachability to blends. The most underrated Champagne variety.
Nutty, herbal, apricot backbone of Cava. Grown in Penedès for centuries. Now bottled as still varietal by leading Cava producers. Essential to Reserva Cavas.
Light, floral Cava component. Apple blossom and citrus peel. Grown at cooler higher elevations. Provides elegant freshness and finesse to Cava blends.
Also called Viura in Rioja. Crisp, apple, citrus base grape for Cava. Traditional white Rioja grape when aged with oak. The most planted white variety in Spain.
French-American hybrid. Reliable cool-climate traditional method sparkler. English and East Coast USA vineyards rely on it. Citrus, mineral, yeasty depth after lees aging.
One of Europe's most ancient grape varieties. Stark acidity, neutral fruit. Mosel Sekt base. Germany's oldest continuously cultivated variety. Stripped back and honest.
Hondarrabi Zuri — Txakoli's white grape. Natural CO₂ fizz. Tart green apple, saline, citrus. Poured from height in Basque pintxos bars. The original aperitivo culture.
Cava Rosado's finest grape. Pale, delicate, wild strawberry and rose hip. Thin-skinned and low in tannin. Also makes fragrant light still reds. Catalonia's quiet speciality.
The Prosecco grape. Light pear, cream, white peach. Charmat tank method preserves fresh fruit aromatics. Italy's most exported wine. The aperitivo hour essential.
Just 5% abv, semi-sparkling, pure peach and apricot blossom. Fermented only once — classic Asti DOCG. The dessert wine gateway. Perfect with fruit tarts and panettone.
Ancient Friulian variety. Natural pét-nat icon. Green apple, chamomile, citrus zest. Also makes celebrated skin-contact orange wine. Ancestral method pioneer.
Méthode Ancestrale pioneer. Gaillac's original pét-nat grape. Apple, quince, cloudy and gently funky. Natural wine's favourite sparkling variety. Blanquette de Limoux too.
Sweet, delicate red sparkling wine. Rose petal, wild strawberry, peach. Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG. The Italian answer to Champagne rosé for dessert. Pair with chocolate.
Red and fizzy! Violet-hued, dark cherry, low alcohol. The original pizza wine. Now taken seriously: dry, complex expressions from old vines. Sorbara is the finest subzone.
Oltrepò Pavese frizzante white. Fresh, almond, slight pleasurable bitterness. Classic Emilian aperitivo. Quietly loved by locals for generations. Often blended with Malvasia.
Pale, almost translucent red grape. Bugey Cerdon's sweet pink pét-nat and Jura's ghostly light reds. Redcurrant, rhubarb, forest floor. A natural wine cult variety.
Delicate
Fruity
Bodied
Bodied
Spicy
& Tannic
Beaujolais' purple prince. Carbonic maceration gives violet, fresh raspberry, bubblegum. Beaujolais Nouveau vs. serious Cru Beaujolais: same grape, entirely different experience.
Light, refreshing, cotton-candy strawberry. Alpine red best drunk slightly chilled. Called Vernatsch in German. Low tannin, high drinkability. The bistro red of Bolzano.
Sicily's lightest, most perfumed red. Violet, wild strawberry, rose. Blended with Nero d'Avola in Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Often called the "Sicilian Pinot Noir."
The heartbreak grape. Silky, ethereal, red fruits and damp earth. Burgundy's crown jewel. Base for Champagne. Notoriously site-sensitive — the most terroir-transparent red.
Dry despite the "dolce" name. Bitter-almond finish, licorice, deep ruby. Piedmontese bistro wine — drunk young and happily while Barolo and Barbaresco age for a decade.
Light, silky, raspberry and floral. Provence rosé backbone. Parent of Pinotage (crossed with Pinot Noir). Low tannin, elegant in the right hands. Thrives in the Midi.
Mission grape brought by Spanish missionaries. Chile's oldest vine variety. Light, earthy, sour cherry. Old-vine revival underway. Listán Negro in the Canary Islands.
Jura's more structured light red. Cranberry, blood orange, savoury earth. Bastardo in Portugal. Grown on rare gravel plots around Arbois. Alpine finesse with a wild edge.
Nerello Mascalese's softer partner on Etna. Deeper in colour, lower in acid, rounder and fleshier. Usually a minority blending grape in Etna Rosso. Rarely bottled alone, and worth finding when it is.
Soft and plummy with velvety tannins. Right Bank Bordeaux darling — Pomerol's Pétrus is 100% Merlot. Approachable and endlessly food-friendly across the globe.
High acid, low tannin, deep colour. Dark cherry, licorice. Barbera d'Asti and d'Alba. Piedmont's generous everyday red — oak barrel aging adds richness and roundness.
Pyrazine and graphite. Leafy, violet, cool raspberry. Loire's Chinon and Bourgueil. Essential blending grape in Bordeaux. Increasingly bottled solo as a varietal worldwide.
Soft, juicy plum and blackberry. Abruzzo specialty — not to be confused with the Tuscan town. Great food-friendly acidity, moderate tannin, and consistent great value.
NW Spain's most aromatic red. Floral, minerally, fresh. Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra granite soils. Often compared to Pinot Noir. Gaining rapid global critical traction.
Valpolicella base: cherry, almond, light body. But dried for Amarone it becomes inky, chocolatey, magnificent. One grape, two completely different wine identities.
Aromatic Douro Port blending variety. Rose petal, violet, bright red fruit. Small plots. Increasing attention as a single-variety Douro table wine. Fragrant and charming.
Austria's most planted red. Blaufränkisch × St. Laurent cross from 1922. Juicy sour cherry, soft tannin, peppery lift. Best served slightly chilled. Endlessly gluggable.
Italy's most planted grape. High acid, cherry, leather, tobacco. Backbone of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Morellino. Finesse meets structure. The quintessential Italian red.
Spain's great red. Leather, tobacco, red plum. Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Known as Tinta Roriz in Portugal's Douro. Long oak aging tradition. Spain's answer to Pinot Noir.
Sun-loving, high-alcohol red. Raspberry, garrigue, kirsch. Core of Châteauneuf-du-Pape blends. Garnacha in Spain. Old-vine expressions deliver extraordinary complexity.
Valpolicella and Amarone secondary grape. Dark cherry, almond, dried herbs. Accepts drying (appassimento) well. Adds colour and structure to Valpolicella blends.
Alpine powerhouse. Bitter chocolate, blueberry, smoky. Grown only around Bolzano. Rare and rewarding. Lagrein Rosato (rosé) is equally prized by those in the know.
Intense, dark, bitter cherry and blackberry. Campo Rotaliano plain. Called Rebo when crossed with Merlot. Parent of Lagrein and Marzemino. Deeply local, increasingly noticed.
Rare Rioja blender. High acid, deep colour, floral, licorice. Now bottled solo by adventurous producers. Exciting single-varietal potential. Preserves freshness in warm vintages.
Central Europe's great red. Blackberry, white pepper, slate minerality, brisk acidity. Kékfrankos in Hungary, Lemberger in Germany. Increasingly rated among Europe's finest.
Spain's third most planted red, long dismissed as bulk fodder. Old bush vines at altitude give inky colour, blackberry, high acid and real freshness. A serious quality revival is underway.
The world's most planted red grape. Bold tannins, black currant, cedar, graphite. King of Bordeaux and Napa Valley. Ages magnificently for 30, 40, even 50+ years.
Argentina's signature red. Deep violet, plum, chocolate, violets. Originally from Cahors, France. High-altitude Mendoza produces world-class expressions. Now grown everywhere.
California icon. Genetically identical to Primitivo. Jammy blackberry, pepper, high alcohol. Also makes sweet White Zinfandel rosé. Old vine Dry Creek Zinfandel is magnificent.
Lost Bordeaux variety rediscovered in Chile. Bell pepper, dark plum, smoked paprika. Chile's own identity grape since DNA confirmation in 1994. Colchagua Valley at its best.
Sicily's flagship red. Rich chocolate, licorice, warm spice. Thrives in extreme Sicilian heat. Sometimes blended with Frappato for Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOC.
Genetically identical to Zinfandel. Jammy, rustic, warm spices. Puglia powerhouse. Primitivo di Manduria DOCG makes rich, age-worthy expressions of real character.
Portugal's noblest grape. Floral, dark fruit, structured depth. The heart of Vintage Port and great Douro table wines. Deep violet, black olive, extraordinary longevity.
Croatia's flagship red — offspring of Zinfandel (Tribidrag/Crljenak). Dried fig, carob, Mediterranean herbs, high alcohol. Dingač's vertiginous coastal slopes are legendary.
Named for the donkey that once carried its enormous early yields. Almost extinct by 1990. Deep purple, black cherry, savoury herbs, surprising freshness for the Puglian heat.
Inky and peppery in Northern Rhône. Big-boned and jammy in Australia as Shiraz. Black olive, smoked meat, violets. One grape, radically different expressions by geography.
Meaty, gamey, intensely structured. Needs coastal warmth. Key in Provençal and Rhône blends. Monastrell in Spain. Bandol Mourvèdre ages for decades. Animal and earthy.
Late-ripening Bordeaux blender. Inky violet, pepper, leather, violets. Rarely bottled solo in Europe but thrives as a varietal in New World heat. Adds deep colour to blends.
Old-vine Languedoc and Priorat staple. Acidic, tannic, black fruit, dark spice. Needs warmth to shine. Increasingly prized at low yields. A natural wine darling in the Midi.
SA's own: Pinot Noir × Cinsault cross. Smoky, earthy, unique. Unique to South Africa. Loves the braai culture. Controversial but deeply cherished. Cape Blend cornerstone.
"Black and bitter" in Greek-Latin hybrid. Dark, earthy, Mediterranean herbs and tobacco. Salento's red heart. Aleatico Rosso is a cousin. Sunset in a glass from hot Puglia.
Etna's great red. Silky texture, smoky volcanic minerality. Red fruit, incense, high acid. Basket-trained vines on lava soil up to 1000m. Sicily's answer to Barolo.
Durif in France — a Syrah × Peloursin cross. Opaque, blueberry, black pepper, gripping tannin. California old-vine plantings are treasured. Stains the glass and the teeth.
King of Barolo and Barbaresco. Tar, roses, fierce tannins requiring decade-long aging. One of the world's most complex and age-worthy red varieties. Demands patience.
World's most tannic grape by polyphenol count. Madiran's star, now Uruguay's national grape. Black fruit, leather, savage tannins. The press loves its resveratrol content.
"The Barolo of the South." Taurasi DOCG on volcanic Campanian soils. Tar, dark fruits, fierce tannins. Needs years to reveal its profound, underrated beauty.
Scientifically the world's most phenolically tannic grape. Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG. Black fruit, leather, tobacco. A decade minimum in bottle. Also sweet passito style.
Portugal's most acidic and tannic red. Sour cherry, tobacco, savage structure. Bairrada's backbone. Long-lived beyond most expectations. Luís Pato its most celebrated champion.
Tannic, bitter cherry, plum, earthy rusticity. Friuli-Venezia Giulia specialty. Ancient northeastern Italian variety. Dense and age-worthy with real rustic charm.
Fierce Venetian red. Sky-high acidity, savage tannins, sour cherry. Treviso province rarity. Needs years in bottle. One of Italy's most demanding and characterful grapes.
"Acid-black" — Greece's answer to Nebbiolo. Tomato leaf, dried rose, olive, ferocious tannin and acidity. Naoussa and Amyndeon. Pale in colour, immense in structure. Ages decades.
"Black stallion" in Slavic. Opaque, dense, blackberry and bitter chocolate with muscular tannin. The Balkans' flagship red, grown across Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Origin
Pale salmon, dry, garrigue, strawberry, Provençal herbs. The benchmark for serious rosé. Côtes de Provence icon. The world's most beloved and imitated pink wine style.
Pale copper, cherry, mineral precision. Marsannay Rosé from Burgundy. Also central to Champagne rosé style. Elegant, food-friendly, mineral. The fine dining rosé of choice.
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo — Italy's most characterful rosé. Cherry-red colour, cherry fruit, saline freshness. Not pale but proud. A full-flavoured Mediterranean rosé statement.
Silky, raspberry, rose petal, very light. Languedoc and Provence rosé backbone. Also central to South African rosé tradition. Lightness makes it the ideal blending partner.
Fresh Navarra and Rioja rosado. Strawberry, cranberry, white pepper. Made by saignée or direct press. Vibrant, food-friendly. Navarra Garnacha rosado is the classic expression.
Bandol rosé — the most serious rosé in the world. Structured, saline, peach blossom, herbal. Mostly Mourvèdre. Wines that age like serious whites for a full 5-10 years.
The accidental blush that saved California's old Zinfandel vines. Sweet strawberry, watermelon, low alcohol. Mocked by critics, adored by millions. A genuine cultural phenomenon.
Greece's serious rosé — still and sparkling. Sour cherry, tomato leaf, high-altitude acidity. Amyndeon PDO. Structured and savoury rather than pretty. Ages surprisingly well.
Made by the madreo method — whole bunches added to fermenting must, leaving a faint natural spritz. Deep cherry-pink, redcurrant, wild herbs. Tierra de León's own tradition.
Citrus
& Saline
& Floral
Full
& Complex
Grassy, citrus, gooseberry (and yes, cat pee). Sancerre's chalk-driven finesse vs Marlborough's tropical exuberance. One of the world's most widely planted and recognised whites.
Melon de Bourgogne. Briny, lean, flinty. Sur lie aging adds yeast creaminess. The original oyster wine. Up to 60 months on lees for Grand Cru Muscadet — extraordinary complexity.
Picpoul de Pinet. Crisp lemon, green apple, saline finish. "Lip stinger" in Occitan. Made for shellfish and moules frites. The Mediterranean answer to Muscadet.
Nutty, herbal, fennel and grapefruit. Rueda's pride on Spain's high Castilian plateau. Gaining international recognition. Oxidises quickly so must be carefully protected.
Aromatic Vinho Verde star. Lime, orange blossom, green herbs. Produces single-varietal wines of real elegance. Monção and Melgaço produce the finest examples of this variety.
High acid, mineral, lemon and citrus zest. Bucelas AOC. Holds its freshness beautifully in warm Portuguese climate. Also Pedernã in Vinho Verde. Exceptional natural longevity.
World's most planted white variety (by area). Neutral, hardy, drought-resistant. La Mancha brandy base. Honest table wine. Now attracting quality-focused producers.
Burgundy's other white. Sharp lemon, chalk, green apple. Traditionally the Kir base, now taken seriously from old vines in Bouzeron. A rising star among Burgundy insiders.
The world's most noble white. Bone-dry to honeyed sweet. Petrol, slate, apricot, white flower. Germany's greatest gift to wine. Ages gracefully for 50+ years with ease.
Volcanic island marvel. Electric acidity, mineral salinity, citrus. Thrives in basket-trained vines on Santorini's pumice soil. One of Europe's most exciting white grapes.
Atlantic-facing aromatic powerhouse. Peach, apricot, saline finish. Rías Baixas icon on granite soils. The world's most fashionable white of the 2010s. Low yields essential.
Mediterranean white. Almond, citrus, pleasantly bitter finish. Sardinia, Liguria, Corsica (as Rolle). Sea breeze in a glass. Also grown in Languedoc and coastal Tuscany.
Adriatic white. Bitter almond finish, lemon, herbal notes. Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. Once famous for its amphora-shaped bottles. Now one of Italy's most exciting whites.
Mineral, apricot, citrus peel. Ancient Greek introduction to Campania. Volcanic tufo soils. One of Southern Italy's finest and most intellectually interesting white wines.
White Etna grape. Volcanic mineral, citrus blossom, crisp acidity. Etna Bianco DOC backbone. Grown on the north face of Etna volcano. Rare and rapidly rising in prestige.
Austria's signature white. White pepper, lentil, grapefruit, wet stone. Wachau and Kamptal Smaragd wines age magnificently. Famously beat white Burgundy in blind tastings.
Lychee, rose petal, ginger. Intensely aromatic. Alsace specialty. Pairs perfectly with Asian spiced food. Low acid but unforgettable aromatics. Love it or you haven't had a good one.
Heady apricot, peach, jasmine. Condrieu's liquid perfume. Low acid, full body. Rare co-fermentation addition to Côte-Rôtie red. Its aromatics are nearly unrivalled.
The only grape that smells of actual fresh grapes. Floral, peach, orange blossom. Moscato d'Asti, Beaumes-de-Venise, Alsace Muscat. One of humanity's most ancient cultivated vines.
Argentina's signature white. Jasmine, rose, peach blossom. Deceptively dry — smells intensely sweet but isn't. Salta highlands grow the finest examples. Unique to Argentina.
Rich and golden in Alsace: smoke, spice, peach, honey. Crisp and lean in Italy as Pinot Grigio. Same grape, completely different wine styles depending on terroir and intention.
Tokaj blender and varietal. Linden blossom, honeysuckle, stone fruit. Lush and aromatic. Furmint's aromatic partner in Tokaj Aszú. Increasingly bottled as a single variety.
Riesling × Madeleine Royale cross. Floral, grapey, early-drinking. Germany's table wine workhorse. New Zealand's early success variety before Sauvignon Blanc took over in the 1980s.
"Little rascal" in Piedmontese dialect — difficult to grow. Pear, almond blossom, white peach. Roero Arneis DOCG. Nearly extinct in the 1970s, now Piedmont's favourite white.
The great white chameleon. From lean mineral Chablis to buttery Napa. The most widely planted and discussed white grape in the world. Oaked or not — always capable of greatness.
Golden, beeswax, white peach, almond. Hermitage Blanc mainstay alongside Roussanne. Gains honeyed richness with age. High alcohol, lower acid, real vinous weight.
Aromatic Rhône white. Herbal, floral, spiced pear. More elegant than Marsanne. Tricky to grow, susceptible to disease. Châteauneuf-du-Pape white essential. Age-worthy.
Infinite range: bone-dry Savennières to luscious Vouvray. Honey, quince, lanolin. Age for decades. South Africa loves it. Arguably the world's most versatile white grape.
Sauternes base when botrytised: honey, saffron, apricot. Hunter Valley dry: waxy, lemony, stunningly age-worthy. Low aromatics young but magnificent texture and length with time.
Honey, hazelnuts, smoke and spice. Fiano di Avellino DOCG. Believed the Romans called it "Apianum" for the bees it attracted. Arguably Campania's finest white grape.
Hungary's great white. Dry: volcanic mineral and citrus. Sweet Aszú: nectar of gods. Eger also makes fine dry expressions. High acid enables extraordinary longevity.
Soave's backbone. Almond, yellow apple, white flowers, saline volcanic minerality. Classico hillside fruit produces wines of real depth and 20-year longevity. Long underestimated.
Apple, almond, light cream. Alsace and Alto Adige (Pinot Bianco). Franciacorta sparkling base. The easier-drinking, underappreciated cousin of Chardonnay. Rarely disappoints.
Anise, white flowers, melon. Châteauneuf-du-Pape white ingredient. Also Clairette de Die sparkling. High alcohol tendency if not careful. Important in southern French whites.
Earthy, mineral, deliberately understated. Franken Bocksbeutel. Exceptional food wine with Franconian cuisine. An under-appreciated gem. Alsace also makes serious expressions.
Ancient Campanian white — possibly the Roman Falernum grape. Floral, citrus, mineral, vibrant acidity. Revived in the 1980s after near extinction. Bright, charming and genuine.
Not the cheese! Ancient white rescued from near extinction. Citrus, herbal, mineral depth. High natural alcohol. Both Abruzzo and Marche claim it. Exciting aromatic character.
White mutation of Grenache. Full-bodied, stone fruit, herbal garrigue. Languedoc and Priorat whites rely on it. Grenache Blanc in Rhône. Lush, Mediterranean, underrated.
Retsina's grape — pine resin infused in traditional style. Divisive but ancient. Unresinated Savvatiano can be peachy, mineral, and genuinely delicious. Athens' own white.
Italy's most planted white. As Ugni Blanc it is the base of Cognac and Armagnac. Neutral and high-acid — but Trebbiano d'Abruzzo from top growers is a revelation.
Dessert
German Auslese to Trockenbeerenauslese. Apricot nectar, honey, electrifying acidity. 100 g/l residual sugar balanced by equally sharp acidity. Among the longest-lived wines on earth.
Late harvest Gewurztraminer. Intensely sweet, rose petal jam, lychee syrup, ginger marmalade. Alsace Vendange Tardive or Sélection de Grains Nobles. An extraordinary aromatic indulgence.
Botrytised Sémillon: Sauternes' liquid gold. Honey, saffron, apricot jam, marmalade. Noble rot concentrates sugars to extraordinary levels. Château d'Yquem is the holy grail.
Furmint affected by noble rot. Concentrated to syrup. Puttonyos scale for sweetness. Tokaji Aszú: orange peel, dried apricot, honey, endless finish. "The Wine of Kings."
Dried Trebbiano and Malvasia. Sweet, oxidative amber wine. Honey, walnut, dried fig. Aged in tiny caratelli barrels for 3-8 years. Sipped ritually with cantucci biscotti.
Muscat of Alexandria on volcanic Pantelleria Island. Passito di Pantelleria: raisin, apricot jam, jasmine honey. Wind-swept bush vines. Ben Ryé is the international benchmark.
Grapes frozen on the vine at -8°C, pressed while solid. Vidal Blanc's thick skins survive the freeze. Lychee, mango, honeyed apricot with knife-edge acidity. Canada's signature wine.
Xynisteri and Mavro, sun-dried then aged in a solera. Arguably the world's oldest named wine still made — crusaders drank it. Dried fig, carob, coffee, molasses. Extraordinary depth.
Wines
Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise. Fortified sweet wine from Southern Rhône. Orange blossom, apricot, peach nectar. Serve chilled as an aperitif or with fruit desserts.
The Fino and Manzanilla Sherry grape. Neutral as table wine but magical under flor yeast. Bone-dry, saline, nutty, oxidative. The world's most underrated and undervalued wine style.
Medium-dry Madeira style. Tropical fruit, smoky, nutty richness. Also fine table wine in Portugal and Australia. Madeira Verdelho: smoked caramel, dried mango, remarkable longevity.
Driest Madeira style. Lean, saline, citrus zest, almond. Survives centuries — bottles from the 1800s remain alive. High acid and oxidative aging make it nearly indestructible.
PX Sherry: sun-dried to extraordinary sweetness. Syrup of figs, dark chocolate, espresso, molasses. Pour over vanilla ice cream. Rich, raisin-dark, a religious experience in a glass.
Touriga Nacional as the heart of Vintage Port. Deep, floral, concentrated dark fruit. The finest Vintage Ports age 50-100 years. Graham's, Fonseca, Quinta do Crasto lead the way.
Soft, plummy Port blending grape. Lower acid, early-maturing. Adds roundness and accessibility to Vintage and LBV Port blends. Also bottled as a varietal Douro table wine.
Sweetest Madeira style. Malvasia grape. Orange marmalade, caramel, chocolate, candied peel. The style Shakespeare's Falstaff drowned in. Extraordinary age-ability over centuries.
Marsala's finest grape. Fortified and aged oxidatively: walnut, dried apricot, caramel, saline lift. Vergine and Superiore Riserva styles rival Sherry. Also fine dry Sicilian white.
Muscat à Petits Grains Rouges, raisined on the vine then fortified and aged in a solera under hot tin roofs. Rare and Grand tiers are decades old. Toffee, raisin, orange peel, treacle.
Georgia's great white, fermented on skins in buried clay qvevri. Amber-hued, tannic, quince, black tea, walnut. The 8,000-year-old wine tradition, now UNESCO-protected.
Kakhuri Mtsvane — Rkatsiteli's aromatic partner in qvevri amber blends. Peach skin, dried herbs, honeyed apricot. More perfumed and rounder. Georgia's aromatic backbone.
Formerly Tocai Friulano. Gravner and Radikon rebuilt the orange wine movement on it. Almond, pear, dried hay, gentle grip. The variety that made skin contact fashionable again.
Pinot Grigio left on its coppery skins — the historic Venetian style. Copper-pink to amber, strawberry skin, orange peel, savoury texture. Pinot Grigio as it once was.
Istrian Malvasia. Acacia honey, salted almond, apricot skin. Fresh in steel or amber and grippy after skin maceration. The signature white of the Adriatic's Istrian peninsula.
Karst plateau rarity grown on iron-red terra rossa over limestone. Wild pear, sage, saline grip. Vodopivec and Zidarich are its champions. Fewer than 100 hectares exist.
Vin Jaune: six years under a veil of flor yeast in barrel, never topped up. Curry spice, walnut, green apple. Bottled in the 620ml clavelin. One of wine's great oddities.
A teinturier — red-fleshed, not just red-skinned. Ink-dark, damson, liquorice, bracing acidity. Georgia's great red, capable of serious aging. Also grown in Ukraine and Australia.
"St. George's grape." Greece's most planted red. Soft velvet tannin, sweet red plum, sage. Nemea PDO in the Peloponnese. Ranges from juicy young reds to serious oak-aged wines.
"Black maiden grape." Romania's noble red. Dried plum, violet, sweet spice, velvety texture. Fetească Albă and Regală are its white siblings. A whole wine culture few know.
The original spice in Bull's Blood (Egri Bikavér). Pale, peppery, sour cherry, delicate. Notoriously hard to grow so plantings collapsed. Now being carefully revived in Szekszárd.
Germany's second red after Spätburgunder. Bred in 1955. Deep violet colour, black cherry, soft tannin. Proof that German red wine deserves more attention than it gets.
Switzerland's white. Almost neutral — a pure conduit for terroir. Lavaux's Lake Geneva terraces give faint white flower, wet stone, gentle spritz. Fendant in the Valais.
Pink-skinned Vitis vinifera grown in Japan for over 1,000 years. Delicate yuzu, white peach, faint bitterness. Made for washoku cuisine and sushi. Understated to the point of zen.
Rows within each style column run top → bottom by increasing body & intensity
In vino veritas